UK NEWS

CHURCHILL CIGAR PRESERVED FOR 66 YEARS

Churchill and his infamous cigar

Saturday November 21,2009

By Martin Stote

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A CIGAR smoked by Winston Churchill during a Second World War conference has turned up on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow.

Christian Williams, 33, of Horncastle, Lincs, inherited the half-smoked cigar, still in its wooden box, from his soldier grandfather Ronald, who acted as butler at the conference in Casablanca in 1943.

Christian was told it is worth around £800. But he said: “I would only ever sell it to a museum. It’s a 20th century icon. It’s too important to be shut away in a private collection.”

CASABLANCA CONFERENCE

21.11.09, 7:46pm

My grandfather Royal Marine BRP Stidston was the senior royal marine sergeant in charge of Churchill's protection group at the Casablanca conference and featured in newsreel shots of the conference.
Churchill gave a cigar to him and an ash tray Churchill used at the conference, sadly they went missing. I understood that all the Royal Marines in his group were given a cigar keep sake of the historic meeting and Churchill was keen to know that all the Marines were well catered for in Casablanca after a long secret under cover trip to Casablanca
One of the Marines had been sent to Casablanca as his wife was due to have a baby. Churchill got a coded message to and from the UK and informed my grandfather that he could tell his man that wife and baby were well and the sex of the new baby.

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